My simple technique for air fryer chicken wings straight from frozen! Perfect for a quick weeknight dinner or if you have a craving for a few wings while watching the game. The air fryer does all the work, cooking frozen chicken from start to finish in just about 30 minutes! Check out the post for three different seasoning ideas, or use your favorite, go-to seasoning instead!

I have cooked more chicken wings in the past two weeks than my entire life. It's been such a strange turn of events, but one I am not at all mad about!
I've always loved chicken wings, but they were very much a food I only considered eating if I was out at a restaurant or bar. Making them myself always just felt like a lot of work for...well, a kind of small amount of meat. You know?
But turns out chicken wings - especially frozen air fryer chicken wings - are the perfect, quick (!!) dinner for one. Made this way, they are basically a healthy meal!
Long live the air fryer!
Air fryers are obviously perfect for chicken wings because you get the crisp of the fry, without the pot of oil.
To be clear, these do not taste exactly like a deep fried chicken wing. Don't be crazy. But! They are honestly still so good and I hardly miss the deep fried taste, especially when the real magic of wings is in the flavor (more on that below).
The one drawback to air fryers is that the basket can be kind of small, so if you are making a large batch of wings it will take a while because you'll need to do multiple batches to ensure all the chicken cooks evenly and perfectly.
But hey, we're all about cooking for one and small batch here. So please believe me when I say air fryer frozen chicken wings are the PERFECT food to cook for one person.
Can you cook frozen chicken wings in an air fryer?
YES YES YES.
The key is to do an initial cook with no oil, salt, nothing. The first few minutes are basically just to defrost the chicken wings. So even if you have wings that are frozen into a block, just throw it in there! After about 10 minutes, you'll be able to separate them.
What you'll need
Frozen chicken wings. This is obviously a great use the wings that come in the big bag in the freezer section. Or if you happened to buy fresh chicken wings on sale a while back and they've just been stuck in your freezer waiting to be cooked, this is a great time to pull them out. I like to buy fresh wings and then portion them out into little baggies to keep in the freezer.
Oil or oil spray. Just a little bit because the air fryer really does not require a ton of fat! A spray is generally easier, but whatever oil you have will work.
Salt. Duh.
Cornstarch. This is technically optional, but I swear it does make a difference. Just a little bit of cornstarch tossed on the wings makes them extra crispy! The key is to make sure you mix it in really well so each wing is coated and there are no clumps.
Seasonings. This is where you can go crazy! Below are three of my favorites, but use whatever you love.
How to make air fryer frozen chicken wings
Place frozen chicken wings in basket. Don't worry if they are frozen solid, just throw them in there and start cooking at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.
Remove wings and place in a bowl. Add oil, salt and cornstarch and toss really well to ensure everything is coated. It's a tiny bit of cornstarch, but you want to make sure it coats all the wings evenly. Place back in air fryer and cook for another 10 minutes.
Toss wings with seasoning of choice (again, coating well) and then back in the air fryer for a final 10 minutes.
Enjoy!
Choose your seasoning
Here are three of my favorite ways to make air fryer frozen chicken wings:
Spice hot honey chicken wings: These wings are seasoned with my house seasoning and then drizzled with hot honey. Instead of my seasoning, you can try a store-bought cajun seasoning or your favorite taco spices! (P.S. The majority of the pictures here show these wings.)
Fennel pepper chicken wings: Combine whole peppercorns and fennel seeds and grind into a fine powder using a spice grinder or mortar and pestle. Season wings liberally with mix and that's it!
Buffalo chicken wings: The good ol' classic buffalo chicken wing. Mix hot sauce with melted butter and a little honey (optional, but I like that little sweetness). For these wings, you toss them in the sauce after they are fully cooked so you don't have to worry about adding more seasoning after the salt in the middle of cooking. So easy!
Frequently asked questions
Nope! But if you do happen to have thawed chicken wings, these will cook up in like 15 minutes. So that's awesome.
Total time is about 25 minutes. If your wings are super duper frozen, they might take a little longer in that first "fry" to defrost. But in general, you should be able to go from freezer to table in just about 30 minutes!
Depending on whether you are making chicken wings as a snack/appetizer or as part of a main mean, I generally do about ½-3/4 lb chicken wings per person which comes to about 6-8 wings (this could vary with size, of course).
If you're making air fryer frozen chicken wings as part of your dinner, just consider it like any other main chicken dish. I like to eat these with either a house salad or my 10-minute kale. Roasted vegetables are also a great idea!
Air Fryer Frozen Chicken Wings (Small Batch)
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 1 (6-8 wings) 1x
Description
My simple technique for air fryer chicken wings straight from frozen! Perfect for a quick weeknight dinner or if you have a craving for a few wings while watching the game. The air fryer does all the work, cooking frozen chicken from start to finish in just about 30 minutes! Check out the post for three different seasoning ideas, or use your favorite, go-to seasoning instead!
Ingredients
- ½-¾ lb frozen chicken wings (I use a mix of wings and drumettes)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon avocado oil (or oil spray)
- ⅛ teaspoon cornstarch (optional)
For Spiced Hot Honey Chicken Wings
- 1 ½ teaspoons house seasoning
- 1-2 teaspoons hot honey
For Buffalo Chicken Wings
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon hot sauce
- 1 teaspoon honey (optional)
For Fennel Pepper Chicken Wings
- ½ teaspoon black peppercorns
- ¼ - ½ teaspoon fennel seeds
Instructions
- Place ½-3/4 lbs (about 6-8 pieces) frozen chicken wings in air fryer basket. If your wings are frozen together, you can try and separate them a little but not completely necessary.
- Cook frozen wings at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.
- Remove basket, and use a wooden spoon or spatula to break up the wings and get them in a single layer. Cook for an additional 5 minutes.
- Remove wings to a bowl and season with ½ teaspoon avocado oil (or just give them a quick spray if your prefer oil spray), ½ teaspoon salt and ⅛ teaspoon cornstarch (if using). If you are using any dry seasonings you can add at this point too (see notes for directions on various flavors). Toss to coat well.
- Place wings back in air fryer and cook for an additional 10 minutes or until wings are fully cooked and as crispy as you want them. Chicken wings are hard to overcook so it's okay to keep them in there for a few extra minutes, as needed.
- Remove wings and toss with sauce (if using).
Notes
- For Spiced Hot Honey Chicken Wings: Before the last "fry," toss chicken wings with oil and 1 ½ teaspoons house seasoning. Make sure they are fully coated and then add them back to basket for the final cooking. Drizzle with hot honey (store-bought or you can try the hot honey from this recipe) before serving.
- For Buffalo Wings: Don't add any dry seasoning (other than salt and corn starch, if using) and let wings cook until they are as crispy as you want. You'll still want to open the basket after the first 10 minutes to break the wings up. At that point you can add the salt and corn starch (again, if using) and just let cook for 15-20 minutes or until fully cooked. Meanwhile, combine 1 tablespoon melted butter, 1 tablespoon hot sauce and 1 teaspoon honey (optional) and mix to combine. Add cooked wings and toss to coat.
- For Fennel Pepper Chicken Wings: While wings are initially cooking, grind ½ teaspoon whole black peppercorns with ¼-1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds (depending on how much you enjoy the flavor). Add this mix with your oil and toss to coat before the last "fry."
- This recipe works with the plain frozen chicken wings you can buy already bagged in the frozen section (the raw, frozen ones!) or you can buy fresh chicken wings, portion them out into a freezer-safe bag and freeze until ready to cook. With either, you air fry from frozen!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Main, Appetizer
- Method: Air Fryer
jean
Cooked myself a batch of wings for dinner tonight. Followed suggested timing and used the buffalo wing sauce at the end (Frank's was the hot sauce that I used). Really enjoyable. Thanks for the ideas - I'll probably do something with lemon/garlic next time, but now that I've got the timing right, experimentation will be easy. Thanks for posting
Mansee Muzumdar
Yes, I love trying new flavors with this one! Lemon/garlic sounds delicious!